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Thread Number: 13633
My review of the Hoover Windtunnel Self Propelled |
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| Post# 144709 7/25/2011 at 19:21 (4,657 days old) by sanitairered (Michigan) | ||
About two months ago, I purchased a Hoover Windtunnel Anniversary Self Propelled Bagged vacuum cleaner. I was itching for a new toy at the time and the Hoover seemed like a good choice. I wanted a full sized, bagged upright to accompany my Hoover T-series Pet Rewind in daily cleaning and quick pickups. For $188 at Wal-Mart, I thought, “Why not?”
I brought it home and put it together right away. One of the first things I notices was how heavy it was. This thing is a beast; you truly need the self propelled feature. I also noticed the decent set of attachments it came with, and when I felt the brush-roll, I was shocked at how stiff the bristles are! It came with a cloth bag and a very thin, mesh-like filter. The unit claims to have HEPA filtration, but if you buy the paper bags at the grocery store, I don’t see how it would be. The cord is a good length, and the height adjustment only has three settings. With an on-off brush-roll and a dirt sensor, I was excited to use it! When I first started to vacuum, I didn’t like it. The Hoover was VERY heavy and awkward to maneuver. The self propel was jerky and aggressive, and the hose was short, shriveled up with the slightest amount of suction cut off, and is so far up in the back of the machine you can’t use it for more than five feet without the vacuum tipping over. I started to regret my purchase, and then I took it to the main floor of my house. My first floor is 45% shag carpet and 55% hardwood floors. For the most part, it’s pretty open and easy to clean (as opposed to my upstairs which has many more obstacles to walk/vacuum around). I plugged in the Windtunnel and continued cleaning. The self propel really was made for shag carpet. It wasn’t nearly as jerky as it was on lower-medium pile carpet, and the Hoover digs down deep, bringing up the nap. My living room was so fluffy to walk on afterwards; I was thrilled! It did a great job on my hardwood floors, and won’t scratch them if the self propulsion is off. I also vacuumed my staircase with the turbo brush, and while it cleaned well, the hose is too much of a struggle to use for more than a quick spot clean or dusting. The dirt sensor is a great… idea. Hoover’s execution of this feature was terrible in my opinion. Say you pick up some large particles, like popcorn, or even just bigger sized crumbs. The sensor will go off, whether it be in the ‘HI’ or ‘REG’ setting. But if you are picking up fine particles, such as flour or dust, it won’t register, and the light will stay green. It’s called a ‘Dirt Sensor’ but won’t sense dirt and dust going through it? Perhaps I’m making a big deal of a trivial thing, but this really annoys me. I filled up a bag after two weeks of exclusive use. I didn’t want to order Hoover’s cloth bags because they not only smelled bad in this, but in the Platinum Bagged I have as well. The odor is terrible, and it starts fast! Also, they were expensive!! Call me cheap, but I don’t want to spend more than $10 on three vacuum bags! It’s outrageous! Anyway, I bought Arm and Hammer bags from Wal-Mart. They work fine, and although they clog up faster than the cloth ones, no odor is blown into the room. Whenever I change a vacuum bag, I clean the brush-roll. I couldn’t believe how much hair was on that thing! I have a girlfriend with sort of long hair and it looked like if she lost any, it wrapped around the brush. It was easy enough to clean, but was tedious. Although the minor things do add up, and I probably made it sound worse than it is, I would recommend this machine. It is a great deep cleaner with amazing suction, and if you have the patience to fight the hose, not a bad above the floor cleaner either. 
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| Post# 144715 , Reply# 1 7/25/2011 at 20:00 (4,657 days old) by suckolux (Yuba City, CA) | ||
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| Post# 144716 , Reply# 2 7/25/2011 at 20:19 (4,657 days old) by sanitairered (Michigan) | ||
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| Post# 144720 , Reply# 3 7/25/2011 at 20:55 (4,657 days old) by vacman117 (Chicago, IL) | ||
I know exactly what you mean by those cloth bags smelling!! My new Hoover Constellation, Windtunnel Self Propelled, and T Series Bagged all have the HEPA cloth bags in them, and they all smell! But when I go from the cloth to the Arm & Hammer bags, the smell goes away. I will never spend the extra money on cloth bags though. I think it's a waste.
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| Post# 144721 , Reply# 4 7/25/2011 at 20:56 (4,657 days old) by guardsman69 () | ||
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the self propelled windtunnel models u6425900 with out dirt finder and u6445900 with dirt finder were launched by hoover in june 1998 replacing the elite esque power drive auto drive direct air self propelleds introduced in 1995 | ||
| Post# 144726 , Reply# 5 7/25/2011 at 21:13 (4,657 days old) by suckolux (Yuba City, CA) | ||
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| Post# 144744 , Reply# 6 7/25/2011 at 22:31 (4,657 days old) by kirbyvertibles (Independence, KS) | ||
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| Post# 144783 , Reply# 9 7/26/2011 at 08:02 (4,657 days old) by sanitairered (Michigan) | ||
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| Post# 144785 , Reply# 10 7/26/2011 at 08:09 (4,657 days old) by sanitairered (Michigan) | ||
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The headlight is very effective on this model; really makes the difference in those dark rooms and corners! And the green light on the dirt sensor is right above it. Looks like I need a new bag soon too. Also, (another minor thing that annoys me) the hose, handle, and tools are black, and the tool clips, some of the vacuum body, and hose inlet are gray. You think they would match on this like they match on almost every other vacuum!
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| Post# 144922 , Reply# 12 7/27/2011 at 00:41 (4,656 days old) by bimmer740 (Long Island, New York) | ||
I owned the Self-Propelled Windtunnel Turbo model for only a few short weeks and then I returned it. While it was a good deep cleaner, its brush roll was to stiff for my carpets and its horrible jerky self-propelled feature was just a bother to me. It was also the loudest vacuum I have ever owned, the noise alone was a deal breaker for this machine. In a home with lots of wall to wall carpeting, I think the WindTunnel would be a good choice at a reasonable price, for my needs it just wasnt the right fit.
I bought a pack of the cloth HEPA type bags for my machine at the time of purchase but never returned them when I took the vacuum back. Anyway, my Grandfather bought the standard WindTunnel and I gave him the pack of bags to use. I dont remember any odor from the bag other than the regular stale dust smell from the bag not being changed as often as it should have been. I purchased genuine Hoover allergen filtration bags for the WindTunnel from totalvac.com and thought I was buying the cloth style bags. However these are high filtration paper bags but the amount of dust that they seem to leak is outrageous! How Hoover can call these bags high filtration is a mystery to me. I know that the bag is properly attached to the collar inside that machine but every time I change the bag, there is more and more dust inside the unit. Also, I noticed that the bag door doesnt seem to seal completely shut even though it is on correctly. It has quite a bit a wiggle room back and forth and I can only imagine how much dust is escaping directly from the bag compartment back into the room. Has anyone else experience this problem or is this just something normal for this machine? Does anyone know how I can possible make the bag door seal shut tightly to the unit? BTW, I think the standard WindTunnel is much more quiet than the self-propelled model, along with being much lighter and easier to use in my opinion. And even though I dont love it, it really does clean the wall to wall carpet in my Grandmother's house very well! The bags seem to fill up pretty quickly in this machine so it must be working well. | ||
| Post# 144936 , Reply# 13 7/27/2011 at 07:20 (4,656 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada) | ||
I find the SP Hoover WindTunnel Ultra to be an excellent carpet cleaner if you have large swaths of broadloom to clean. Never found the self-propulsion to be a problem. Loved the low-profile of the head and bright headlight. Sliding the floor surface selecter is very easy if you just tilt the handle forward as you adjust. Excellent removal of dust bunnies and surface litter on bare floors (could use a retractable brush strip like they used to have on th Powermatic power nozzles.
Though the WindTunnel suction channels work amazingly well to remove dirt, I never liked the deep "blank" area left untouched at the front edge of the nozzle when you head into a baseboard or piece of furniture. That front channel really leaves a stretch of "no mans land" at the front edge. And if you don't have room to manoeuver the vac side ways to brush that edge, you need to use the attached hose to get at any dirt left behind. You can sometimes just lift the front edge of the vac and hope the strong suction draws in any surface litter, but you don't get any brushing action at this front edge. Not tragic, but sometimes annoying. By the way, this Hoover SP WindTunnel has been at the top of Consumer Reports test ratings for close to 10 years - excellent carpet cleaning, excellent bare floor cleaning, excellent air flow through the hose (even though the hose is too short and unwieldy too use - it really works in a crunch!) | ||
| Post# 144940 , Reply# 14 7/27/2011 at 08:53 (4,656 days old) by sanitairered (Michigan) | ||
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bimmer740..
My Windtunnel doesn't have a lot of play on the bag door, but it does have some. I know it isn't sealed correctly because whenever you restrict airflow through the hose the bag door sucks in a little bit. So maybe your windtunnel is 'normal' hahaha. I'm not too concerned with mine being the way it is.
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Post# 144949 , Reply# 15 7/27/2011 at 12:02 (4,655 days old) by gottahaveahoove  (Pittston, Pennsylvania, 18640) |
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I'm friends with Mr. Pike, | ||
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Post# 144950 , Reply# 16 7/27/2011 at 12:03 (4,655 days old) by gottahaveahoove (Pittston, Pennsylvania, 18640) |
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WOW! | ||
| Post# 145073 , Reply# 17 7/28/2011 at 14:09 (4,654 days old) by gmerkt (Edmonds WA) | ||
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Bimmer740: The loose fit on the bag door isn't unique to your machine. I've noticed blow-by dust on the outside of a couple I've had. | ||
| Post# 147688 , Reply# 18 8/18/2011 at 15:32 (4,633 days old) by floor-a-matic (somewhere) | ||
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I have both 13" & 15" WindTunnels (w/o S/P) from 1998 (15" WT has Powered Hand Tool in front) & a 2008 Anniv. Edition S/P WT (w/old style PHT) which I like better than the 'worthless' Turbo brush on 2010> WindTunnels 
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| Post# 147746 , Reply# 20 8/18/2011 at 21:20 (4,633 days old) by floor-a-matic (somewhere) | ||
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HEPA bags don't smell bad at all, maybe its what U pick up with the vac that has a HEPA bag? | ||
| Post# 147774 , Reply# 22 8/19/2011 at 00:05 (4,633 days old) by vacman117 (Chicago, IL) | ||
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| Post# 147776 , Reply# 23 8/19/2011 at 00:13 (4,633 days old) by joshdonnell () | ||
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my review i have had bag in my miele for since last month ! no oder haha | ||
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